The invention relates to a process for the production of a coil made of a high-temperature superconductor material. Superconducting coils are used for the assembly of transformers for heavy currents with a strength of usually much more than 50 A, of magnets in particular for research purposes, in high-energy physics, in ore extractors, in the fabrication of semiconductor materials and for medical purposes such as e.g. magnetic resonance imaging, and for resistive current limiters.
Coils made of a high-temperature superconductor material, e.g. based on bismuth-(lead)-strontium-calcium-copper oxide (xe2x95x90BSCCO and PbBSCCO, respectively) or rare-earth element(s)-alkaline earth element(s)-copper oxide (xe2x95x90YBCO), are already known. Since, in the latter class of material, yttrium is usually, and also in the scope of the present application, counted among the rare-earth elements, since yttrium is normally regarded as the most important or only rare-earth element for this class of material, and since Ba is the most important and often only alkaline earth element (B for barium), the term xe2x80x9cYBCOxe2x80x9d will be used below for this class of material.
Coils which are made of wound superconducting wire now usually have a coil length of from 50 mm to 110 mm and a superconducting wire length of from 40 mm to 80 m, for example an external coil diameter of 49 mm and for example an internal coil diameter of 13 mm. As high-temperature superconductors, they are now normally prepared from a BSCCO material containing large proportions of the phases BSCCO 2212 or BSCCO 2223 with encapsulation in a silver alloy. Low-temperature superconducting coils normally contain niobium-titanium, niobium-tin or niobium-aluminum. Such coils are now normally used at the temperature of liquid helium, 4.2 K, or liquid nitrogen, 77 K, as magnets.
They can be used as high-temperature superconducting working coils in superconductor magnets together with low-temperature superconductor coils in DC operation. These magnet systems are preferably used for creating very uniform magnetic fields and are employed, in particular, in magnetic resonance imaging MRI. They are also necessary for creating strong deflecting magnetic fields in particle accelerators.
They can also be employed as AC coils in transformers, in order to be used as a secondary or primary coil, in transformers of the core or shell type, for AC voltage conversion.
Superconducting coils can also be used as resistive current limiters, in particular for AC, in order to avoid the creation of high short-circuit currents, especially in power stations, and to prevent destruction of plant components such as generators and transformers. In this case, the extraordinarily short response times are in particular advantageous.
Very few superconducting coils are now used in practice. They are wound from a high-temperature superconducting wire that has been prepared using the oxide powder in tube method (OPIT). The metal cladding usually consists of an alloy with an electrically conductive noble metal whose effect, during operation, is that some of the current carried leads to the formation of shielding currents and hence to additional electrical losses, the AC losses.
AC power loss is converted into heat, and must then be removed by the cooling system. In the superconductor material, the magnetic self-fields are also constantly changed along with the polarity reversal of the alternating current; the energy then dissipatedxe2x80x94known as hysteresis lossesxe2x80x94contributes substantially to the AC losses. Thin wire filaments lead in this regard to lower AC losses than large thicknesses. The AC losses are therefore substantially dependent on frequency, and on the thickness or diameter of the superconducting article or filament.
The alternating magnetic fields associated with the alternating current induce eddy currents in a conventional electrical conductor such as metallic conductors, and hence for example in silver alloys. Because of the normal-conducting properties of the metallic material, this causes resistive losses according to Ohm""s law. However, the AC losses increase as the resistance of the normal conductor decreases. The AC losses in silver alloys at 20 K are therefore actually significantly higher than 77 K. Lastly, AC coupling losses can also occur in the case of closely adjoining articles, such as e.g. in a filament bundle. All three loss mechanisms increase exponentially with n=3, and therefore drastically with the current and linearly with the frequency. The values of the AC current loss are also dependent on the specimen geometry and conductor arrangement, and can therefore be compared only under standardized measurement conditions.
Attempts have been made to reduce these current losses by reducing the proportion of metal used, and optionally also fitting insulating interlayers or selecting less electrically conductive alloys. Nevertheless, the level of shielding currents is still high.
With OPIT wire, coils are usually made which, because of the wire dimensions, can only carry relatively small currents, of the order of up to about 20 A, so that very many windings are normally needed. They can be produced e.g. with high-temperature superconducting wires that have been made using the OPIT method. With the OPIT method, a tube containing predominantly silver is filled with especially fine-grained powder having the chemical composition of a superconductor which is then, e.g. by rolling, reduced in cross-section, compacted, textured, annealed and converted into the desired superconductor material, or further crystallized. These wires often have a diameter of from 0.1 to 0.3 mm including their metal cladding. They are almost always clad by a metal tube containing silver. The method is comparatively expensive and takes a very long time in all; the pure process time is normally now longer than 1 month. The coils made therefrom have the disadvantage that they are very expensive to produce andxe2x80x94owing to the superconductor powder quality used and the subsequent mechanical and heat treatment stagesxe2x80x94very great performance differences occur, possibly to the extent of losing the superconducting properties at 77 K.
Because of the now often still too low current-carrying capacity and excessive AC losses of many superconductor components, their use is limited. Further development of such components is needed so that even higher currents can flow through these components superconductively and with low loss, or without loss.
When the critical current density Jc is exceeded, the superconductivity collapses and the superconductor becomes a normal conductor. This is associated with stronger heating of the conductor and possibly melting of the superconducting material.
In order to produce high-temperature superconductors with lower AC losses, or high critical current densities, it is necessary to optimize the superconducting material in terms of purity, phase purity, phase composition, degree of crystallization and orientation.
Particularly large cross sections or large widths, that is to say large thicknesses, would be advantageous because of the consequently much higher critical current density and current-carrying capacity. During production, non-superconducting foreign articles and gas inclusions in the cross section are to be avoided, since they impair the electrical properties.
High-temperature superconductor materials based on YBCO would be particularly advantageous for use in coils because of their particularly favorable values of critical current density and current-carrying capacity; but they cannot yet be drawn suitably to form wires.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,483 describes a YBCO coil that, inter alia, was produced by isostatic compression and sintering of a tube section and subsequent sawing, no stabilization having been used during the processing. Such coils are therefore to be handled and processed with the utmost care, with a high risk of causing irreparable damage being run.
The object was therefore to propose a process for the production of superconducting coils, with which it is possible to produce substantially or fully crack-free superconducting coils from bulk materials, and to improve the coils further in terms of their superconducting properties. These coils should preferably have no metal cladding.
The object is achieved by a process according to claim 1 and by a coil according to claims 9, 10 and 14.
A suitable starting material for the shaped article that is processed according to the invention is a shaped article made from a pre-fired, sintered or post-annealed superconducting material. It is in principle necessary to perform the process stages of pre-firing, such as e.g. calcining, sintering and optionally post-annealing, which may be carried out in a single firing operation or in several, possibly even repeated, sub-stages, in order to obtain a high-quality superconductor material. On the other hand, at the beginning of the process according to the invention it is also possible to start with an already high-quality superconducting material, which contains a high proportion of one or more superconducting phases.
The superconducting material preferably contains at least one of the superconducting phases with a composition substantially based on (Bi,Pb)xe2x80x94AExe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94O, (Y,RE)xe2x80x94AExe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94O or (TI,Pb)xe2x80x94(AE,Y)xe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94O, where AE stands for alkaline earth element and, in particular, for Ba, Ca and/or Sr. In this case, the phases that occur have, in particular, a composition of approximately (Bi,Pb)2(Sr,Ca)2Cu1Oxxe2x80x2, (Bi,Pb)2(Sr,Ca)3Cu2Oxxe2x80x3, (Bi,Pb)2(Sr,Ca)4Cu3Oxxe2x80x2xe2x80x3, (Y,RE)1Ba2Cu3Oyxe2x80x2, (Y,RE)2Ba1Cu1Oyxe2x80x3, (TI,Pb)2(Ba,Ca)2Cu1Ozxe2x80x2, (TI,Pb)2(Ca,Ba)3Cu2Ozxe2x80x3, (TI,Pb)2(Ca,Ba)4Cu3Ozxe2x80x2xe2x80x3, (TI,Pb)1(Ca,Ba)3Cu2Ozxe2x80x3xe2x80x3, (TI,Pb)1(Ca,Ba)4Cu3Ozxe2x80x2xe2x80x3xe2x80x3. In many cases, it is recommended that superconductor material contain, besides the superconducting phase or phases, a proportion of one or more compounds that melt only above 950xc2x0 C. and do not decompose below 950xc2x0 C., in particular BaSO4, SrSO4 and/or (Ba,Sr)SO4.
A superconductor material that is maximally textured and, in doing so, is maximally oriented in such a way that the platelet planes that correspond to the plane of maximum superconductivity are aligned substantially in the direction of the coil profile, is particularly preferred. This is especially advantageous when a shaped article produced using a molten casting method, in particular a centrifugal casting method, is used. Shaped articles which have been produced using a process as described in DE-A-38 30 092, EP-A-0 451 532, EP-A-0 462 409 and/or EP-A-0 477 493 are in particular suitable; because of their citation, these publications are to be regarded as fully included in the description.
A suitable starting geometry for the superconducting shaped article is a rod or a tube, a cuboid, a cuboid with very rounded edge regions or a similar geometry, above all with substantially cylindrical external geometry. Solid articles can be converted into corresponding hollow articles by mechanical processing. The shaped article should if appropriate have a maximally uniform thickness, in particular a cylindrical cavity concentric with the external surface. In principle, however, other cross sections for the shaped article and the cavity may also be used. The cavity need not be concentric with the external surface, and need not have a uniform thickness. The coil to be made usually has a cylindrical or substantially cylindrical basic shape. This coil may if appropriate present deviations in terms of shape and angle, in particular, in terms of the deviation of a cylinder from being round and deviation of the cylinder axis from a right angle with respect to the plane from which the angle of the coil pitch is calculated.
The process according to the invention is used for the production of superconducting coils or spirals from hollow articles, which may contain various superconductor materials and may have various geometries, but in particular for the production of high-temperature superconducting coils (high-Tc superconductor coils) such as e.g. based on bismuth-strontium-calcium-copper oxide. The coils may be made from tubes or similar hollow or solid articles and, at their ends, advantageously have contact surfaces that are preferably formed from silver sheets. These contacts may, however, also have burned-in metal contacts, sheet contacts based on metals other than silver, or possibly no electrically conductive contact surfaces at all.
Superconducting articles of the described type and geometry generally have a total electrical resistance  less than 0.1 ohm, measured at room temperature, which should be checked using a 2-point measurement before actual work begins. Since tubular articles, which have been made from oxide superconductor materials, have predominantly ceramic properties, they are as a rule susceptible to cracking and fracture, in particular under prolonged mechanical processing. For this reason, it is necessary to stabilize the superconducting articles, or articles that become superconducting under further heat treatment, preferably BSCCO tubes, at least externally and optionally internally by appropriate measures. Depending on the handling involved, it may be found that in the case of articles stabilized only externally, the finished coil may have more incipient and/or microscopic cracks, which reduce the current-carrying capacity, than a coil that is also stabilized internally. It may therefore be advantageous also to use stages c) and f) of patent claim 1 during production.
To that end, external stabilization is preferably applied to the surface of the superconductor tube before making incisions or cuts to form the coil turns.
This external stabilization may be produced by wrapping the hollow article in suitable self-adhesive strips, with adhesive-impregnated organic or inorganic fabrics (e.g. layers of cotton, glass fiber mats, hemp cord), with self-curing single- or multicomponent adhesive mixtures (e.g. styrene resin, epoxy resin), with composite materials based on organic and/or inorganic adhesive and fabric components (e.g. textile fabric and plaster compound), by bonding the superconductor tube into tightly fitting metal, wood or plastic tubes, or by encapsulating the external shell of the superconductor tube with low-melting metals, metal alloys, plastics and/or inorganic binders (e.g. based on tin, Wood""s metal, wax, polyethylene PE, plaster, cement). When inorganic binder systems are used, however, it should be noted that these are normally in aqueous suspension, so that, before they are used, the moisture-sensitive superconductor material is to be sealed with a layer of varnish or other waterproof coatings.
After the external stabilization has been applied to the surface of the superconductor tube, it is possible to insert a support, which is primarily used to clamp the superconductor tube in appropriate tools or machine tools (e.g. vise, lathe). It is preferably inserted into a cylindrical cavity. It is recommended to fit a support, in particular, in the case of tube diameters in excess of about 30 to 120 mm external diameter, or tube thicknesses smaller than about 5 mm, although this depends both on the raw breaking strength of the material and on the forces used and the geometry. Since this support has to withstand large forces, in particular shear forces, caused by mechanical processing operations, it should expediently consist of a thick-walled metal tube, a solid metal rod or a thick threaded metal tube. However, other materials may also be used, such as e.g. wooden rods, square wooden sections, thick-walled plastic tubes or solid plastic rods. In order to be able to discharge their task as a clamping aid, all the supports should preferably extend at least 100 mm beyond the respective end of the superconductor tube.
The superconductor tube may, for example, be connected to the support that it contains in the following way:
a) by filling the gap with self-curing single- and/or multicomponent adhesive mixtures, with low-melting metals and/or metal alloys, with plastics, wax and/orxe2x80x94after preparation by varnishing or similar sealingxe2x80x94with organic binder systems,
b) by wrapping the support with self-adhesive strips and/or composite systems made of organic or inorganic fabrics, preferably combined with self-curing organic or inorganic adhesives, until a tightly fitting cylinder is created to which the superconducting tube piece can be bonded,
c) by screwing-on an internally bored cylinder section made of wood, metal, alloy or plastic, which can be fitted over the support and is made to match the internal diameter of the superconducting tube, so that the latter can then be bonded on,
d) by inserting a flexible cylinder section, e.g. made of soft foam plastic or expanded polystyrene, into the space between the support and the internal wall of the superconducting tube, which can then be pressed tightly into the gap to be filled, e.g. using suitable screw devicesxe2x80x94such as e.g. a metal support designed as a threaded rod, with a circular metal plate having a diameter that is smaller than the internal diameter of the superconducting tube, and a nut on the threaded rod for pressing down the circular metal plate.
When the stabilization measures for the superconducting tube are finished, the intended thread profile with appropriate pitch can be marked on the external reinforcement or the external surface of the shaped article. The superconducting material may then be separated immediately along the intended spiral profile, e.g. by sawing, turning or milling, or, in particular in the case of small superconducting tube thicknesses, after removing the corresponding external reinforcement in the vicinity of the spiral marking, e.g. by dissolving the superconductor material in suitable acids or alkalis orxe2x80x94after filling the external sections and removing the internal corexe2x80x94by turning down the superconducting material until the externally applied filler compound becomes visible.
Since the superconducting material is susceptible to cracking and fracture, it is recommended to fill the sections that are made, preferably all-round, in order to stabilize the coil. In doing so, in addition or as an alternative, e.g. one of the following adhesive systems may be applied to the external surfaces of the superconductor material. Both the filling of the incisions/cuts and the application to the external surfaces are referred to below as external reinforcement. The application to the internal surface of the cavity is referred to as internal reinforcement. These reinforcements are expediently made e.g. by using self-curing single- or multicomponent adhesive systems which may be mixed with fine ceramic powders such as e.g. aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide and/or silicon dioxide. It is, however, also possible to use purely organically based adhesive systems, such as e.g. adhesives mixed with wood dust or fine cotton or pieces of hemp, which are inserted or laid in the sections and then bonded. As an alternative, it is also possible to use inorganically based adhesive systems, such as e.g. plaster or cement mixtures, again on condition of first impregnating with a varnish or coating e.g. using plastic melts made of polyethylene PE or polyvinyl chloride PVC.
After the production of the external reinforcement has been completed, the support which the tubular coil contains is removed, together with the internal reinforcement if applicable. If indirect separation of the superconductor material by further internal turning down is intended, then the filling of any already exposed sections is superfluous. Otherwise, the section gaps are preferably filled, as already done in the case of the external sections, with appropriate materials. Optionally, the external reinforcement, which extends beyond the external diameter of the coil, and/or the internal reinforcement, which extends beyond the internal diameter of the coil, are partly or fully machined. The (remaining) external and/or internal reinforcement may optionally also be removed at the user""s premises.
The external reinforcement may connect the coil turns outside the incisions/cuts between the coil turns and/or directly between the coil turns, and/or an internal reinforcement may provide mechanical strengthening. The use of a reinforcement, in the case of which the gaps between the adjacent coil turns are not filled, is favorable for better cooling. Conversely, it is favorable for mechanical stability precisely to have these gaps between the adjacent coil turns filled, since coils generally vibrate in an alternating field and are hence mechanically stressed. These gaps must, however, essentially be filled with a non-conductive material, so as not to enhance eddy currents. The finished coil must, however, be reinforced at least in the gaps, at the external diameter or at the internal diameter.
Finally, the external stabilization may, depending on its type and the requirements, be removed from the surface of the superconducting coil or spiralxe2x80x94i.e. on the contact surfaces for the electrical connectionxe2x80x94and the total electrical resistance of the coil at room temperature can then be determined again using a 2-point measurement, in order to check it for damage, in particular due to incipient and/or other cracks. For stability reasons, re-application of an external reinforcement, possibly to the metallized contact areas, may then be recommended.
In order to be able to make coils with several maximally concentrically arranged windings, coils may be selected with correspondingly different internal diameters, whose windings may be kept at a sufficient distancexe2x80x94at least 0.1 mm, preferably at least 0.3 mmxe2x80x94from one another, and may be firmly connected at the ends and without interrupting the superconducting material. This can be done, for example, using a process as described in EP-A-0 442 289; because of its citation, this publication is to be regarded as fully included in the description. In this case, non-conductive or metallic reinforcements, in particular near the joins, may be advantageous for increasing mechanical stability.
As an alternative, single-, double- or multifilament coils may be produced by making incisions in a shaped article in such a way that the resulting shaped article has the geometry of a single-, double- or multifilament coil. The incisions are advantageously made along the marked spiral profile by means of mechanical separating processes such as e.g. sawing, milling, boring, turning etc., and subsequently filled with one of the adhesive combinations described above. In order to produce the double- or multifilament coil geometry, one end of the coil is preferably separatedxe2x80x94after the separating work described above has been completedxe2x80x94by sawing, milling, boring, turning etc. in such a way thatxe2x80x94after the incision of the opposite end of the coil at other pointsxe2x80x94counterrotatory spiral turns are created.
Making incisions in a shaped article for double- or multifilament coils is advantageous compared with the assembling of single-filament, or e.g. in a special case two double-filament, coils since possible quality reductions at the joins are avoided. Rectangular cross sections for the coil turns are not in principle a problem. For mechanical reasons, however, it is advantageous for the edges of the coil turns to be broken (chamfers or rounding). Because of the magnetic properties, round, maximally circular, or approximately octagonal cross sections are preferable for the coil turns, although they lead to considerable extra expense during production.
Compared with assembled single-filament coils, double- or multifilament coils machined mechanically from a single shaped article can be advantageous because, in the case of assembling, it is not possible to make the joins uniform and identical with the surrounding superconducting material.
Double-filament or multifilament coils, which have been produced by corresponding arrangement of the incisions in a shaped article or by assembling coils of different sizes, have in this case the advantage that the magnetic self-fields of the coil sections lying opposite one another can reduce each other or cancel out; inductions and eddy-current losses can be reduced further by means of this.
This is true both for double- and multifilament coils, in which at least one xe2x80x9csingle-filamentxe2x80x9d coil has a smaller internal and/or external diameter than at least one other xe2x80x9csingle-filamentxe2x80x9d coil related to it, and is true in particular for those double- and multifilament coils in which at least one coil has an external diameter that is smaller than the internal diameter of another coil related to it, and also for those double- and multifilament coils in which the coil turns of several related coils have the same, or approximately the same, internal and/or external diameter, and in which the coil turns of the various xe2x80x9csingle-filamentxe2x80x9d coils alternate regularly in the length direction of the coil. In the case of the latter type, equal internal and external diameters are preferable for manufacturing reasons.
All these spiral articles can be used as coils or in a different way as superconducting spirals. In particular, a coil according to the invention can be used as a semifinished product for the production of high-temperature superconducting transformers, windings, magnets, current limiters or electrical leads. Such coils can be used as transformer coils on the secondary side of a transformer or as current-limiting coils, and also in e.g. double-filament design, as resistive current limiters. They can also be used to amplify the magnetic field of an external magnet, in particular in the middle of the coil, as internal coils, while the outer sections of the coil can also be wound using wires, because the magnetic field which can be produced by superconducting wire windings inside the coil may not be sufficient.
In order to measure the AC loss, it is also possible to use coils with cross sections other than 5xc3x975 mm, since the cross sections can be converted correspondingly to this.